Hello from England .. Lao visit soon !

[clemo]

Hi All ,
Dave here in Torquay Devon England.

Bit about me :-
Im a moped'er at heart .
Inspired by the BBC top gear Vietnam tv programme Me and 15 others decided to copy the route . On fake Honda Dreams that fell apart daily. The route was hard with not a lot of time to enjoy where we were travelling. Most of the route was on the AH1. (2014)

A year later 7 of us decided to return and take in the Ho Chi Minh Trail on more fake Honda dreams. This was a beautiful journey. Up in the national parks and cutting our way through the wonderful small roads / dirt tracks . This route was such a pleasure to ride. It was slow and we had plenty of time to take in the view. (2015)

NEXT TRIP 2016 .APRIL .
The same 7 of us want to fly into Luang Prabang (Try and buy 7 mopeds)
Then ride down to Long Tieng
Then into Vientiane for New year April 13th.
Then from there work out if any of the old Ho Chi Minh trail is still a route that we can ride on mopeds
If yes work our way down the country and ride towards Paske
If not hope that the A13 is not to busy with traffic ( not bad like Vietnam AH1)
Work our way towards Cambodia border.

When we finish we donate our mopeds to Project Vietnam . A children's charity that works on Vietnam , Laos And Cambodia .
they sell them and we fly back to England .

Any advise is gratefully received .
Do you know of motorbike dealer in Luang Prabang ?
Should i buy a GPS to try and find the old Ho Chi Minh trail?
IS the A13 a busy road ? some videos on youtube make it look empty . But i do not know this as fact.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this .
I hope to be part of this great site and hope to contribute in the future .

Clemo

 

[Lone Rider]

Hi All ,
Dave here in Torquay Devon England.

NEXT TRIP 2016 .APRIL .
The same 7 of us want to fly into Luang Prabang (Try and buy 7 mopeds)
Then ride down to Long Tieng
Then into Vientiane for New year April 13th.
Then from there work out if any of the old Ho Chi Minh trail is still a route that we can ride on mopeds
If yes work our way down the country and ride towards Paske
If not hope that the A13 is not to busy with traffic ( not bad like Vietnam AH1)
Work our way towards Cambodia border.

When we finish we donate our mopeds to Project Vietnam . A children's charity that works on Vietnam , Laos And Cambodia .
they sell them and we fly back to England .

Any advise is gratefully received .
Do you know of motorbike dealer in Luang Prabang ?
Should i buy a GPS to try and find the old Ho Chi Minh trail?
IS the A13 a busy road ? some videos on youtube make it look empty . But i do not know this as fact.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this .
I hope to be part of this great site and hope to contribute in the future .

Clemo

Try this site for used bikes: Findinlao.com

Some more info on motorbikes in Laos: Scooters-and-motorbikes

No problem to do the HCM Trail on scooters - make sure that the bike is in reasonable condition and that you have spares (inner tubes, etc.) and tools with you. A GPS with a GPS map for Laos is handy to have but with a good map you can do it also.

Road 13 to the south is not very busy but it is a boring road so better to be avoided.

Pakse to the south - take the roads on the west side of the Mekong - most of them are unpaved and, in case you get fed up with dirt roads (they can be very dusty in April), there are at several places small ferries available to cross the Mekong river to get you on the paved Rd 13.

On the HCM trail as well as on any other dirt road a bit of the beaten track make sure that you have sufficient drinking water with you as it can be very hot and dusty and not many shops along the tracks and dehydration sets in very quickly.

 

[andymac]

or get one of those hydration filters and just drink the Mekong?
bye the way hello clemo

 

[Capss]

Hi Clemo

I used a Garmin Montana on my trip (this time last year) with the Laos maps on they worked fine for me. I used free maps from OSM mapping
This will tell you all about it
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hu...downloading-installing-open-street-maps-64135
The Montana can be used with the Garmin software on either Windows or Apple

There is a Montana for sale on the Horizons Unlimited site, the guy selling it is in the UK
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/travel-equipment-for-sale-wanted/garmin-600-for-sale-uk-84697

I also used a Reise Map http://www.amazon.co.uk/Laos-Reise-...=UTF8&qid=1449780717&sr=1-1&keywords=laos+rkh
But I don't know if it has the Trail on it and I don't have it handy to look

all the best with the planning

Wayne

 

[clemo]

Thanks for your great links and advise .
Slight change of plan .. Due to not being able to find bike sellers in Luang Prabang . Or at least being able to find at least 6 all on one day is my worry .
Having done a few moped tours round Vietnam i think i will :-
Fly in to Hanoi , Meet 6 - 10 friend .
Catch train down to Vinh . where it is much easier to find bikes ( or get then sent down from Hanoi before we arrive from a guy we used before ?)
Then take a 3 day slow ride up through national park and along to Vientiane in time for the new years festivities on the 13th.

can anyone recommend the nicest route across . there seems to be 2 routes .

once again thanks for any tips or advise that you can give ... we will be riding blindly into the unknown ... that is until we get a map or Don's gps.